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Shadeslasher
Appearance Shadeslasher (or as he prefers to go by, Shade) is an average sized NightWing with a somewhat slim build. All across his scales deep black scales, and dark blue-ish under scales are a few faint, barely noticeable scars. The underside of his wings share the same colour as his scales, and when outstretched, make him look like a little piece of the night sky down on Pyrrhia. His snout is a little slender and pointed, but not overly so. His eyes are a dark blue similar to his under scales, making his entire colour scheme quite dark. The horns on his head are bent back at a slight angle, something only noticeable if he stood next to another, non horn bent NightWing. The claws on his front legs are relatively sharp due to his constant sharpening of them. A habit he’s continued doing, even if there is no reason to do so outside of routine. On his back right leg is a deadly look scar caused by a claw filled swipe, which has left him with a slight limp. His tail is a little shorter than a normal NightWing’s, which may have saved him from losing a part of it more than once. Personality At the outset, Shade seems like a kind, reserved dragon. He gives most of those who cross him a friendly smile with some accompanying small talk on occasion. He’s willing to lend a helpful talon here and there, having aided in the construction if the NightWing village. Besides that he tends to keep to himself. His usual activities include lonesome flights and listening to rainforest noises. Unless those noises are of the rain hitting against the local foliage. While generally relaxing, it doesn’t make him feel that way. Instead, he tries to drown out the rain with an engaging scroll, but finding one of those isn’t easy. To anyone else, his life either seems peaceful or boring. They wouldn’t be wrong, but it doesn’t mean that that how he’s experiencing it. Everyday is a lonesome drag, even waking up being difficult sometimes. He wishes he could go out there and take part in conversations and social activities, but is unable to allow himself to fully do so. Despite there being nothing physical holding him back from doing so anymore. This all ties back to one thing. His previous occupation. One that has many different names depending on who you ask. Such as a; killer, murderer, moral less dragon, meddler, loyal NightWing, helper of the tribe or assassin. No matter the name, he was it. He took part in the activities it entailed, and feels no shame for doing so. It was the life he chose. He does, however, feel the weight of it on his back each and every day. Like a large stone of his immoral deeds weighing him down, he is unable to move--unable to enjoy his now free life. No matter how much he struggles, the weight remains, and sometimes even gets heavier. The only thing he can do is carry it. It’s all apart of the assassin life he once wanted so much. Looking back, he realized his parents were right. He was stupid for wanting to be what he had become. The stories were just that: stories. Created to entertain foolish dragons like him. How foolish he was to think otherwise. To think there was no negatives to accompany the positives. He’d go back and beat reality into his dragonet self if he could, but that was obviously not possible. All he could do was deal with the consequences of his choices. Even if this time there was no positives to along with the negatives. History Shade was born on the volcanic NightWing island to just his mother and father. He was the only child, which had positive and negatives. One positive was that as an only child, he’d have more food to eat. A luxury for those in his tribe. A negative, however, was that he often felt lonely, having nobody to interact with. His parents were always busy with adult related duties, and his fellow dragonets were rarely allowed to just interact with each other. And even when they were, none of them seemed to care much about him. This led to him picking up reading once he learned how to, and spent most of his early dragonet hood doing so. After reading through many different kinds of stories, he found his favorite ones being that of assassins, who were often mysterious, charming, skilled dragons who killed the enemies of the tribe. As if that wasn’t awesome enough, they got to leave the island to do their duties. While not a killer, he thought the other aspects of being an assassin outweighed having to murder. After all, the scrolls never made killing that big of a deal. Just a slash to the throat from behind and the traitorous dragon was dead. Seemed easy enough. Tired of just reading about them, he begun his training to become one once he reached the age of five. The training was crude, just him jumping around the outskirts of the island pretending to murder dragons, which were really just the dead stumps of trees. He spent a few months doing just this, and didn’t really gain any skills besides being able to jump around a lot. Something dragonets tended to do anyway. His parents grew quite annoyed at him for wasting his time on something so stupid, and tried to berate him out of continuing. This failed, and he continued chasing a seemingly impossible dream. His parents, having had enough of behaviour, decided to get an actual trained assassin to take their son out on a day of real training. That way he’d see how impossible it was, which would make him forget about wanting to become one. Shade was ecstatic when he found out that he’d be trained by a real assassin. Basically his dream come true. He immediately agreed, and the next day, went off to train. By the end of it, he was left bruised and bloody. Not mortally hurt, but painfully, since he had about as much skill as a rock. He had underestimated the toughness of assassin training. The scrolls never made the training out to be that rough and painful. His whole body hurt! His mentor then asked him whether or not he’d like to continue the training, expecting an obvious no. However, Shade said yes. Despite being in more pain than a dragonet should feel, he wasn’t going to let the opportunity to become an assassin slip away. If anything, it made him want to be one even more. All protagonists had to go through some rough training in order to become an assassin. And he was going to become one. The next few months were rough. Almost every day ended him being hurt in one way or another, but with each training session it got a little easier. More importantly, he got a little better. Soon he was able to counter his mentor’s swings, and dodge the thrown blades. Something he was congratulated on by his mentor, which lead to a closer relationship between the two. Nothing much, but enough where a few jokes and fun conversations weren’t too uncommon. His life outside training also seemed to get better. He felt confident, and couldn’t help but show off to his parents. They were shocked with his success, but took him seriously, and even encouraged him eventually. The other dragonets even began to pay attention to him when he showed off the skills he had learned. It seemed the life of an assassin, or assassin in training, was just as it was in the stories. Other dragons looking up assassins as cool and mysterious. Charming was something he was still working on, and was sure to lead a great mate to him one day. After over two years of training, and getting better and better, he was finally ready for the final test. The one that would change him from “an assassin in training” to “an assassin”. He was ready. He was going to pass whatever test it was with ease, then live an awesome assassin life. His confidence levels were through the roof. But then his mentor told him the nature of his final test, and all that confidence he was feeling was replaced with a deep sense of dread. His entire assassin world was about to come crashing down into reality. The test was to end the life of a MudWing who had been reported being a little too close to the rain forest border. All this time, he was too focused on the merits of being an assassin that he forgot the work it entailed. Stupid of him to do, but he never wanted to do the work. He just wanted the side effects. However, that’s not how things went. He needed to do the test, or face extreme consequences, but worse yet, lose the grand assassin life he had been chasing. He was lead into the rain forest, where there was a light downpour falling through the trees. The noise of the rain pattering against the leaves was eerily relaxing, which only made him feel the opposite. Every step he took was heavy, his heart beating what felt like a thousand times a second. Once he had his target in sight, it felt like time slowed to a crawl. This was it. It was time for him to become an assassin. He stalked his target for almost an hour, it feeling like days to him, until the MudWing settled down under a tree for what seemed to be a rest. Once their attention was focused in the opposite direction of where he was, he used the down pour to cover the noise of his quick movements towards his target, before leaping onto them. The MudWing was bigger, and could easily overpower him, but for a few seconds he had the advantage. It was during these crucial seconds he was to commit the deed, and each one seemed to draw on. But he did it. He quickly took the MudWing’s head in his talons and… twisted. All movement ceased right then and there. He was no longer looking at a dragon. He was looking at a body. It was now void of life. Because of him. He wasn’t sad, remorseful, or guilty. He just felt… numb. Nowhere in the scrolls prepared him for what he was feeling. Maybe that was because… they were wrong. Being an assassin wasn’t about being cool or charming. He didn’t feel like those things. Not at all. Eventually, his mentor found him, likely thinking he was dead. When they found out that was not the case, they walked over and patted Shade on the back, giving him the words that would stick with him for the rest of his life: “The first one is always the heaviest. Each one after merely adds to the weight. You can’t change what you carry, but you can change how much you can carry. Do that and you’ll fine.” From that day forth, things were never fully the same. Sure, he still had fun conversations and jokes with his mentor. Sure, his parents still thought that him being an assassin was great for the family. And sure, some of the now fully grown dragons held some respect for him. But that wasn’t the main part of the assassin life. Far from it. He completed a talon full and then some of more deeds. Most of them had to do with keeping other dragons out of the rain forest, with a couple leading him to other parts of Pyrrhia to end the life of some dragon who put the tribe’s goals in jeopardy. His mentor was right. The first one was the most impactful, and each one that followed only added a bit more to the weight. He tried to keep the amount he could carry up, and was successful. That was until the island irrupted into fire, smoke, lava and brimstone. This meant that they had to share the rain forest with the RainWings. Not too long after the war ended, meaning everyone could finally live peacefully. This even meant the end of his assassin life. No more deeds to be done. He thought that’d make things easier, but it didn’t. He may not have to worry about more weight to carry, but he’d have to carry it for the rest of his life. And as time goes on, he’ll get weaker. Soon it will be too much for him to carry. Category:Male Category:NightWing Category:Character